Authenticité

Authenticité was an official state ideology of Mobutu Sese Seko's regime in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The movement sought to remove all traces of colonialism from Zaire and to create a centralized and singular national identity, that of an African people. The policy renamed the Congo and its cities, mandated that all Christian names should be replaced with traditional ones, and banned Western clothing in favor of the abacost suit. Examples of renaming include the renaming of "Congo" to "Zaire" (which was actually of Portuguese colonial origin), "Leopoldville" to "Kinshasa", "Elisabethville" to "Lubumbashi", "Katanga" to "Shaba", and even his own name change from "Joseph-Desire Mobutu" to "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbdendu Wa Za Banga". The ideology began to wane duirng the late 1970s, and the suit and tie and given names were restored by the 1990s, ending the Authenticité movement.